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MP Gegham Manukyan from the opposition Armenia bloc on Friday denounced the decision to ban Panorama.am photojournalist Lilian Galstyan from entering the building of Armenia’s National Assembly from Thursday.

"Immediately after this parliament started its work, the public saw restrictions on provision of complete information, when the then caretaker parliament speaker, Alen Simonyan, imposed restrictions on reporters’ freedom of movement, depriving them of full opportunities for coverage," he said at a parliament sitting.   

According to him, many journalistic organizations, as well as the human rights defender, have thoroughly substantiated the fact that the restrictions are inappropriate and violate the freedom of information.

"Yesterday another disgraceful incident was recorded, Panorama.am photojournalist Lilian Galstyan was banned from entering the parliament for a long while, which is an absolutely disgraceful phenomenon in terms of restricting the freedom of speech in Armenia and the people’s freedom of access to information,” Manukyan stated.

After his speech, Chairman of the Counting Commission Narek Babayan once again explained the election procedure and a break was announced for electing Armenia bloc MP Ishkhan Saghatelyan to the post of deputy parliament speaker in a secret ballot.